In the dark elemental room, a boy with a bloodied body and a limp, dangling left arm was dodging numerous arrows and parrying with a spear in his only functioning hand. Suddenly, Alex felt something—something had opened in his mind. He could feel the dark element outside his body—and more than that, he felt he could control it.
I don't have much of a choice here. If I can't do it, I won't be able to enter the EE Academy, Alex thought.
He began circulating the dark element through his blood vessels, exuding a dark aura. With it, he tried to control the element, but just then, an arrow pierced his thigh. With a scream—"Fffuck!"—he collapsed.
That's not it, Alex thought. *If I'm able to feel all the dark element… can I not control it?
Let's give it a try. I don't have the luxury to close my eyes—let's just keep dodging and parrying and do it.
With sheer willpower, he reached out, sensing all the dark element in the room. With it, he formed a shield. A flimsy dark elemental shield took shape in front of him—only to shatter instantly under two arrows. But Alex smiled.
"Finally. So that's how you do it. Let's do it again".
Another flimsy shield formed—this one covering most of his body. It held off three arrows.
Alex kept trying, improving. After half an hour—and many new slashes from arrows—he finally formed a dome-shaped dark elemental shield. He sat inside it.
I'm exhausted. My head… feels like it's tearing apart from the inside. Thinking makes it worse. Just keep the shield sturdy… stop thinking, Alex said.
He fell into a trance-like state—no thoughts, only instinct—continuously reinforcing the shield with dark element.
---
In the control room, Emilia stood up the moment Alex formed his first shield. It shocked her immensely.
After watching Alex's progress in such a short time, Instructor Lucius said, "You were right. This boy is a genius. It takes years of practice to use elemental energy—yet he improved here. He never gave up, even through all that pain."
With a hearty laugh, Lucius added, "Hahaha! I really like him."
Emilia glared at Lucius. "Keep your hands away from him."
Lucius laughed again. "Hahahaha!"
Looking at other screens, Lucius said, "This year seems full of geniuses. Lots of talented ones from the ten clans."
He pointed to one screen and said, "You should care about that girl too."
Emilia sighed. "What can I do? Her father… and her brother is ruthless. When he became patriarch of the Roarhart Clan, he made it clear he wouldn't let her go. I've told Rina—with enough strength, she can control her fate."
Rina Roarhart, sister of William Roarhart, was currently in the Earth elemental room. The area resembled a mountainous landscape, with golems attacking her from all sides. She stood at 5'6", with light blonde hair and lion-like eyes. A tender white flower blooming in a battlefield. Her life, however, was like that flower—constantly stalked by beasts. Daughter of Lebron Roarhart and sister to the cruel William Roarhart, she had suffered for her talent. Even her father never protected her.
Only once had someone stood up for her—Emilia Aurelwyn, William's own fiancée. In some ways, neither Emilia nor Rina ever had full control over their fates.
Now, Rina was going berserk—clad in earth elemental armor, shattering golems as they came. She had reached the 6th Circle Earth Elemental level.
---
Back in the control room, it had been six hours. One of the operators reported, "Only 2,000 participants remain out of 5,000."
Alex, still in a trance, kept maintaining the dome-shaped shield even after returning to the hall. When Emilia saw this, she sighed.
"This boy… he's maintaining the shield even here. And he's not even conscious. He went so far… just for the test."
Emilia asked, " Instructor Lucius, how many have a second element among these participants?"
Lucius checked the screens. "Five kids have a second element. All of their second elements were suppressed during the test to keep things fair."
"Let's remove the suppression," Lucius ordered one of the operators.
Emilia walked into the hall and approached Alex. He was still in a trance.
"Mr. Alexander, the test is already complete. You've passed," she said.
Upon hearing this, Alex finally let go—and collapsed unconscious.
Emilia smiled faintly. She had seen everything—how he struggled, how he overcame difficulty with zero prior knowledge. She looked at Alex again—and was shocked. His wounds were closing before her eyes.
She had never seen anything like it.
"Instructor, take him to the infirmary immediately," she ordered.
A few moments later, Instructor Lucius stepped on stage.
"Hello again, everyone. You've all cleared Phase 1 of the EE Academy entrance test. Phase 2 will begin in two days. Rest well—because the next phase will be far more dangerous." With a smile, he returned to the control room.
Emilia slapped her forehead, then stepped onto the stage.
"Hello everyone. As Instructor Lucius said, please rest well. Your assigned number is your room number. Proceed there and rest." She then went back to the control room.
Turning to Lucius, she said, "Why don't you ever give complete instructions?"
Lucius laughed. "Hahaha! Where's the fun in that?"
Emilia sighed. "Anyway, what's Mr. Alexander's second element?"
Lucius began sweating. "It's… wood element," he muttered.
"WHAT?!" Emilia shouted. "Father! You suppressed wood element?! That's a support element! The rules say only fighting elements are to be suppressed!"
Lucius chuckled nervously. "Hey hey, I'm an instructor here—not your father!"
Emilia glared. "Then tell me—why would you suppress wood element?"
Cornered, Lucius had no way out. He had suppressed it just for fun… because his daughter had taken an interest in a certain someone.
"You're really troublesome, Father…" Emilia muttered.
"Just tell another instructor to take him to his room after the infirmary."
"I think he'll be fine in half an hour—his wounds were healing that fast," she added.
"In Phase 2… I don't think anyone will be able to challenge him with that much healing power," Emilia said.
Lucius thought, That would be no fun, right?